Treaty Alliance: Please sign the statement

Please find below the Call of the Treaty Alliance (www.treatymovement.com), which has been conformed with the support of the Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity jointly with other networks and organisations, since 2013 in the process towards the UN Binding Treaty.

Thanks a lot for spreading and endorsing this call and for endorsing (see below the instructions, please DON'T send your endorsement copying the list).

Strong call by Treaty Alliance as UN process enters new phase

To be successful, the next session should encourage constructive negotiations between States about concrete and detailed elements of the future treaty, so too for the establishment of a road map for their completion, says the Alliance in a recent statement.

The UN Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group (OEIGWG) on Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Respect to Human Rights will be holding its third session October 23-27, 2017. With two successful sessions behind it, negotiations will now begin on the basis of a draft presented by the OEIGWG Chair-Rapporteur. As discussions are expected to get more detailed and concrete, constructive and cooperative States’ participation is needed.

The previous two sessions (2015 & 2016) allowed a rich debate and contributed to the identification of a common ground for further progress in the elaboration of the treaty: the primary obligation of States is to protect people’s rights, including extraterritorially, over anything else. At present, regulatory gaps are leading to human rights abuses and violations as well as appalling impunity. Globally, corporations are engaged in operations that result in deep environmental harm, land grabbing and use of slave labor, to mention just a few of a never-ending list.

As echoed by the recently launched statement (http://www.treatymovement.com/statement/), which calls for further people’s support, “the introduction and regulation of corporations’ liabilities nationally and internationally is needed so that States finally start meeting their obligations to protect human rights and the environment against harmful activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises”.

Not only is States’ commitment to the process crucial for the success of the session, but also the mobilization and solidarity of all peoples.